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Many of today's university efforts do not respond to the needs of students or society.

Each year Davos, a small town in Switzerland, receives top international political figures, business leaders, intellectuals and journalists to discuss the problems that afflict our world. Undoubtedly, education plays an essential role in the issues addressed. Salvador Alva, President of Tec de Monterrey, and participant of this international summit reported in his social profiles about challenges that education faces according to the global leaders attending the World Economic Forum 2018.

Salvador Alva points out that at present many of the things done in universities do not respond to the needs of students or society. Therefore, a profound educational system transformation is vital.

Key issues addressed atthe World Economic Forum 2018

People will live between 90 to 100 years. However, it will be necessary to develop health programs.

The educational platform will last a lifetime and we must learn something every day. Educational programs will be divided into short periods of time; It is estimated that it will be difficult to get people's attention for more than 7 minutes.

Despite fears, technology is expected to generate new and sufficient jobs.

Individuals will have more free time thanks to automation.

We currently use smartphones for entertainment purpose; this device has to evolve to become a useful education tool.

University research importance

Another relevant topic that caught the attention of the media was the study conducted by Times Higher Education which reveals that currently 27 of the most important universities in the world generate more research than most countries (except the US and China). These educational institutions collectively produce more than 7% of the total research in the world. Powerful economies such as Germany and Japan only generate 6% and 5% respectively.

Most of the information and knowledge on which decisions of the world economy are based come from universities research. Educational institutions require fundamental transformations and students will need to develop new habits and interact with new educational tools to face the challenges ahead.